EpicUK Tyranids

carlos

Post subject: Re: EpicUK Tyranids

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 12:51 am

Brood Brother

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:03 pmPosts: 1081Location: London, UK

will play this tomorrow (Thursday so today already). Seemed odd when building the list that 6 spores cost 150 and then each extra costs double at 50 pts each. A spore is definitely not worth 50 pts whether upgrade or not.

I think at one point you got 3 for 150pts, so the upgrade cost stuck maybe? I wanted them to be Expendable too, but you shouldn't need more than 6. A key strategy of the Nid list is to cram in as many activations as possible, keeping upgrades to a minimum- with SR 1 you need a few 'suicide' activations you can afford to lose before you get your turn- you need 3-4 formations in position to strike 2-3 targets at the start of turn 2/3 for this reason.

Spores still suck. Don't think there ever was a nid list that had usable spores except the ones that didn't have Gargoyle AA and hence depended on them exclusively. For this one, can't see the point. They move so slow that you either:- spread them out and then can't bring numbers to bear on aircraft especially since they are not expendable and so are easy to suppress (poor save, LV, etc)- bunch them up and then w/ the 10cm move only by a miracle will they catch any planes

Rest of the list was okay although had a few surprises like the Hierodules not being as well protected as I thought and not being nearly as powerful in close combat for example. Harridans still amazing. Compare them at 225 pts (including 4 gargoyles for AA) w/ a hierophant at 300 pts from the same points pool. No comparison.

Tyranids still a bit underpowered compared to established lists, but I own strong armies already so it's nice to pull a handicap army out once in a while. (Btw I won but I lost more VPs than my opponent if we got to count those).

Spores are useful as a cheap harassment activation. Only Genestealers are as cheap and come with their own disadvantages. Spores can be garrisoned and spread in such a way to deny teleport sites near your valuable stuff and to put the all-important Blast Marker on incoming air assaults- and if the opponent wastes an activation attacking them, it's another more expensive formation spared.

Having now played my 2nd game with this list I can say it does feel like playing 'nids and so far both games have been competitive.I have to ask though, what's the reasoning for the points cost for the 'phants? They don't seem competitive at all, even when comparing with other units in the same list.Hierophant - DC4 WE, 25cm, 5+ RA, 3/5, Bio-cannon, +3MW EA, Fearless, Synapse - 300 ptsHarridan - DC3 WE, 35cm, 5+ RA, 4/5, Bio-cannon, +1MW EA, Fearless, Leader, Skimmer, Synapse, comes w/ 4 gargoyles - 225 ptsIn what world is the Hierophant 33% better than the Harridan? They're both very vulnerable with only the 5+RA and no shields (in the past the Hiero had a 4+RA), but the Harridan can do pop-up attacks and with its 35cm move can hope between cover very easily. The Hiero is better in close combat, but we're talking about a 25cm move unit w/out infiltrator, teleport or transport so it will only very rarely get into base contact.-Dominatrix and HydraphantCost 500 pts each but the 'Trix has the advantage of being able to bring friends along like the useful Hierodule which can block a volcano cannon shot if positioned carefully.'Trix has 4+ FF whereas the 'Phant has 5+ FF which is a big difference on DC6 beasties w/ a 20cm move. 'Trix has an energy pulse which adds to the bio-cannon firepower and a once again very useful +1EA FF MW. The 'Phant has 2 TK extra attacks but on a 20cm beast, how often you going to get into base contact. Most importantly, the 'Trix has Commander (not amazing), Leader (amazing!) and Supreme Commander (AMAZING!).And they both cost 500 pts. I'd rather take 2 dominatrixes!

The comparative uselessness of the Hierophant was remarked upon at the Cambridge tournament... you should have seen the points cost of the Harridan before the tournament's feedback, too! IIRC it was something like 175pts each, heh.

Stat & pointswise, yeah the Hydraphant (Stupid thing, it shoulda been removed, so the Hierodule could use the smaller bio-titan model and the Hierophant the bigger model, IMO) seems to suffer from the same "not awesome like the harridan" problem as the Hierophant.

The list is primary in two halves. Firstly, the hoard of gaunts. Secondly, War Engines. To promote the hoards side of the list the WE are deliberately downgraded, but if a player wants to go WE heavy they can do so and still get a good game.

Two Doms, good and in larger games the Hydraphant comes into play.

You have to be aggressive with the list and often spend much of the first turn marching to get into place. Often the treat of the WE’s is enough and lets you use your swarms to do the real damage. Saying that though, in testing the WE’s did stack up an impressive list of kills.

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